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Topic: Camembert #3 (Read 1160 times)

My first Camembert since joining the forum, using the Wiki recipe for my first creamline milk make. I managed to make it to the farmer's market this morning. I also located a raw milk dairy close to me that I will use for longer aging cheeses.

The make was pretty nominal, I was surprised that the yield was so high. My previous attempts with grocery store milk (Rikki Carrol's recipe) typically yielded enough curd to fill 4 molds. Surprise - this time I had more than enough to fill 4 and the balance filled a basket mold. That turned out to be a blessing. Reviewing Rikki's recipe, it produces a much dryer curd with 15 minutes of stirring and another 15 minutes of setting compared to 5 minutes of rest, a quick stir and 5 more minutes of rest.

For my first Camembert makes I used sushi mats to drain and plastic cutting boards. This time I used #5 plastic mats. With the sushi mats I had no problem flipping four molds at once clamped between the boards. That thread holding them together provides some friction. This time I lost three of the molds at least partially as I attempted to flip the 4 mold sandwich. Most of the curd ended up in the sterile sink, so along with the extra curd that had been draining in a basket mold I managed to refill 4 molds.

A couple observations that may be useful to other novices:

There is very little friction between a plastic board and a plastic mat. I'm going to put sterile cheesecloth between the board and mat for the next flip. Hope that works. You could also use Sushi mats for the initial drain, but not for ripening. The mats seem to wick the whey, keeping the bottom of the cheese wet.

The #5 cross stitch mat is a bit too coarse for draining B/C. I have some #7 that may work better before the curd has really formed up. I will age on the #5 sitting on egg crate.

Even just a few hours old, the creamline curds taste and feel much better than those made with P/H milk. I assume this will translate into a nicer cheese. Promising so far.